Wish List – Tomb Raider 2

With the recent announcement of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition for next-gen consoles, it got us thinking about what we want in a full-blown sequel to Crystal Dynamics' action hit.

More Envelope-Pushing Visuals: Tomb Raider already looked great (especially considering how large the world is) and the Definitive Edition improvements promise to improve the visuals even more. But there's something to be said about a game made from scratch with next-gen benchmarks in mind.

No More Origins: Just like with any reboot, you're kind of stuck defining the character again. In the first game, Lara transitions from smart, young archaeologist to relentless killing machine. Much hay was made over her sadness over slaying a deer and her subsequent cold blooded murder of hundreds of dudes. Next time we can skip all of that and Lara can simply be hard and experienced out of the gate.

More Tomb Raiding: Sure there were tombs to raid in the reboot, but they were mostly optional, brief side missions. The challenge and puzzle inventiveness were there, but it would be cool to promote the tombs to primetime again. I'm talking ancient puzzles and traps, maybe some creepy mystical enemies, and a big reward at the end of each one.

A New World: Of course there will be a new backdrop for Lara's next adventure. But what would be compelling? It's not realistic, but I'd love it if things were somehow laid out in a Zelda structure. You'd have many different climates in a single area instead of just jungle, mountain, and beach, and then the tombs could be like dungeons. You could always fly around to these separate locations across the globe, but it kills the sense of being stranded if you can just call up the private jet for a pickup when things get tough.

Go Co-op Or Go Home: Look, competitive multiplayer in Tomb Raider was a big waste of resources even if it was shopped out to Eidos Montreal. Even if competitive multiplayer were more than serviceable in a Tomb Raider game, getting consumers to keep coming back, let alone give it a chance in the first place, is an uphill battle. I'd be much more interested in a co-op gameplay setup with some of the fellow survivors going on missions in a story concurrent with whatever Lara's doing. Even though most of the characters outside of Roth and Sam weren't that special, you could have had them running around on that same island trying to survive as well.

More Great Combat, Exploration, And Upgrades: Tomb Raider had slick third-person shooting and QTE melee combat, tight jumping and climbing, and tons of goodies to find all over the island of Yamatai. The Metroid-style roadblocks kept you coming back to previously visited areas to load up on rewards and the upgrades you received felt significant.

We've laid out our hopes for the next Tomb Raider. What would you like to see in the sequel?